Today’s Focus: Funding Your Goals

– The different funding options available to you: lump sum, automation, rollover

Booo, tomorrow is our last day. Remember, each day you’ve received a video and a written lesson walking you through the process. You see how much I look after you? 🙂

Watch the Day 4 video below, then move on to the lesson.

Let’s meet-up later in our Dream Catcher FB Group to discuss what we learned!

See you soon…

“Remember, automation is the new discipline, and honestly, I’m super excited because it’s one thing to have a plan, but it’s another thing to really put that plan into action.” —TIffany Aliche, “The Budgetnista” Me!

Hey hey hey Dream Catcher, and welcome to Day Four of our Beginner Investor Course with The Budgetnista & Ellevest!

If you’re just joining in, remember to make sure you go back and do Day One, Day Two and Day Three first, and then join us back here!

What you DON’T need:

A huge opening deposit. Let’s work with what you have.

Time to micro-manage your account on the daily: auto deposits and a diversified portfolio make it easy to set it and semi-forget it.

To worry about life changes — if you need to pause your deposits or withdraw funds before your goal date, you can.

Reminder: Dream Catchers who open a new Ellevest account in September will receive $25 towards your first funded goal at Ellevest. This offer is for new clients only – see official promotional details below*

Your bank information (routing and account number).

Information on any investment accounts you may want to consolidate at Ellevest. (Note: this can’t be part of your current job’s retirement program.)

Your favorite celebration beverage and/or dance moves! 🙂

Here’s a quick recap:

You’ve learned about the 50/30/20 rule for spending, saving and investing your money.

You’ve figured out how much of your budget you can set aside for investing, and we’ve created and explored a personalized investing plan for your goals.

You’ve made a lot of progress. That’s huge, and I’m so proud of you!

———————————————————————————-

Let’s review your action items:

Paying off your high-interest debt? Check!

Participating in your work 401(k)? Check!

Started your emergency savings account? Check!

Have you started working on, or have you completed, all of these? Yes?

Congratulations! Let’s start investing.

*If you created a single-goal “Build Wealth” portfolio using the “Let’s Go” button, you’ll set your preferred deposit amounts in the right-hand sidebar on your portfolio, and then click the green “Invest Now” button on the upper right of your portfolio page to get started.

Step two: They’ll ask you how much you’d like to transfer from your bank account to your new investing goal.

So, let’s talk about these goals for a minute. What are your options?

Remember, you don’t have to start funding all your goals right away. Investing should be a habit, not a chore, so if one thing is your main focus right now, like retirement, just put money towards that one goal.

If you’re able to make a one-time deposit to open your account, that’s great. Just enter the amount under “one-time deposit.”

If you want to set up regular contributions, tell us how much, and when you’d like to schedule these deposits. Easy.

Automation is the new discipline.

You can even use different bank accounts for each goal. It’s up to you.

Click the “save and continue” button. We’re almost done!

Next, we’re going to tell Ellevest which bank account to use to transfer our deposits from.

Start by typing in your bank’s name – if your bank is already listed, you will be prompted to log into your bank account through Ellevest’s technology partner, Quovo.

If your bank isn’t listed, or you’d prefer not to provide your information through Quovo, you can link your account manually.

You’ll need your bank account number and routing number. If it’s your checking account, take a look at the bottom of one of your checks. If it’s a savings account, you may want to check with your bank to verify the routing number.

Just FYI: Your first deposit will take a few days to be processed. You’ll see the status of your incoming deposits on your overview screen.

Here are some other questions we tackle in the video:

How do you make changes to your account? If you set up deposits but realize you need to put them on hold or change your amount, later on, you’ll simply log into your Ellevest account and navigate to the Goal Planner, where you’ll be able to view any upcoming deposits and make changes.

How to rollover your 401(k) or 403(b): Ellevest’sConcierge Team will help you evaluate whether rolling over your 401(k) or 403(b) to Ellevest is in your best interest so you can make an informed decision before making any money moves. Then, when you’re ready, Ellevest’s team will help make everything seamless. Be sure to let them know that The Budgetnista sent you and be prepared to provide your phone number and email address.

IMPORTANT steps to take before contacting the Concierge Team:

Before you make the decision to rollover your 401(k) or 403(b) from your previous employer, please ensure that you have completed all of the steps to create your Ellevest investment plan. You will need to address the goal amounts in your plan to determine where you would like to place your deposits. If you haven’t already, you can get your plan here. Link not working, copy and paste to your browswer: https://thebudgetnistablog.com/ellevest

Once you have your completed plan, click here to learn more about what’s involved in this process.

Why is Step 2 important: There are very strict tax implications to rolling over these types of accounts . If you are not a seasoned tax professional or have not met with a financial advisor, you may mess up and end up owing a lot of money. Link not working, copy and paste to your browser: https://www.ellevest.com/401k

How can you be sure this is the right decision for your money? Ellevest is a fiduciary — which is a legal designation that means that Ellevest is required to put a client’s interests ahead of their own. That’s why Ellevest does this analysis of whether rolling this over is the best thing for the client or not. Sometimes, it’s not.

What if life happens, and I need to withdraw my money sooner than planned? Here’s some advice from Sallie:

“Ellevest does not have a fee for withdrawing your funds, it’s your money.”

You should know, however, that if your investments have increased in value since you purchased them, you may have a capital gain — which means your capital (another word for money) has gained (or grown in value) and you may incur taxes on that. Now, it’s no fun paying taxes — but of course, having a gain is usually a very good thing.

And also, for some retirement accounts, there are rules set by the IRS about penalties for withdrawing the money before you reach retirement age. You can find the rules for the withdrawals on the IRS website (that’s a ton of fun, I assure you). But I also encourage that, if you have a tax advisor, speak to him or her about your particular situation.

FYI: If you decide to open an emergency savings account with Ellevest, please be mindful that it might take up to 8 business days for your funds to be deposited back to you when you request a withdrawal.

This could be good or bad. If you’re someone (like me) that has trouble with impulse shopping, having to wait 8 whole days is a great deterrent to not make that purchase! However, if you need your money for a true emergency, please take note that it will take some time to transfer back to you.

Soooo, guess what time it is? You already know…HOMEWORK!

As usual, your homework isn’t hard.

Take action, today!

Head to your account with Ellevest : Again, Dream Catchers who open a new Ellevest account in September will receive $25 towards your first funded goal at Ellevest. This offer is for new clients only – see official promotional details below*

Decide how you want to fund at least one of your goals.

Fill in your financial info.

Create the transaction!

That’s it! Remember, no amount is too small.

Wealth is first a mindset, then a habit.

I’ll share it again…automation is the new discipline.

See you back here tomorrow for our final lesson!

PS – If you have questions about Ellevest’s investment portfolios or site features, you can always reach out to Ellevest’s concierge team – they’re happy to help: concierge@ellevest.com.

*The Ellevest The Budgetnista promotional offer is valid from September 1, 2018 to September 30, 2018 for the first 1,000 new clients of Ellevest who enter through this designated landing page. Clients who enroll and fund their non-retirement account will receive $25 added to their highest priority goal in their Ellevest account. Clients who enroll and fund their retirement account will receive a $25 Amazon gift card which can be redeemed by visiting www.amazon.com.

Please review Amazon.com Gift Card Terms and Conditions prior to redemption. Ellevest is not responsible for lost Amazon Gift Cards. Ellevest’s processing time for depositing $25 into a client’s Ellevest account or delivery of a $25 Amazon gift card may be up to 60 days.

*Source Ellevest. To arrive at “about $100 a day”, we compared the wealth outcomes for a woman who begins investing at age 30 with one who began investing at age 40 after having saved in a bank for 10 years. Both women begin with an $85,000 salary at age 30 and all salaries were projected using a woman-specific salary curve from Morningstar Investment Management LLC, a registered investment adviser and a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc., which includes the impact of inflation. We assume savings of 20% of salary each year. The bank savings account assumes an average annual yield of 1% and a 17% tax rate on the interest earned, with no account fees. The investment account assumes an investment with Ellevest using a low-cost diversified portfolio of ETFs beginning at 91% equity and gradually becoming more conservative during the last 20 years, settling at 56% equity by the end of the 40-year horizon. These results are determined using a Monte Carlo simulation—a forward looking, computer-based calculation in which we run portfolios and savings rates through hundreds of different economic scenarios to determine a range of possible outcomes. The results reflect a 70% likelihood of achieving the amounts shown or better, and include the impact of Ellevest fees, inflation, and taxes on interest, dividends, and realized capital gains. We divided the calculated cost of waiting 10 years to invest, $337,657, by 3,650 (the number of days in 10 years). The resulting cost per day is about $92.50.

The information provided should not be relied upon as investment advice or recommendations, does not constitute a solicitation to buy or sell securities and should not be considered specific legal, investment or tax advice.

The information provided does not take into account the specific objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any specific person.

Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss in a declining market. There is no guarantee that any particular asset allocation or a mix of funds will meet your investment objectives or provide you with a given level of income.

Forecasts or projections of investment outcomes in investment plans are estimates only, based upon numerous assumptions about future capital markets returns and economic factors. As estimates, they are imprecise and hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of future results.

The practice of investing a fixed dollar amount on a regular basis does not ensure a profit and does not protect against loss in declining markets. It involves continuous investing regardless of fluctuating price levels. Investors should consider their ability to continue investing through periods of fluctuating market conditions.

Investing entails risk including the possible loss of principal and there is no assurance that the investment will provide positive performance over any period of time.

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